During a tele-town hall held Monday night, Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Huntsville) said the possibility of balancing the federal budget is up to American voters.

 “Yeah, it’s possible,” Brooks said, “if the American people do a much better job than they have been doing of electing congressmen and senators who will vote for a balanced budget constitutional amendment that forces us to do the right thing on the one hand, or on the other hand, will vote for senators, congressmen – and I should add presidents in that list – who are more conscious of our financial limitations, thereby forcing us to make the tough decisions where we prioritize what we want to spend money on and those things of the lowest priority simply don’t get the money because we don’t have it.”

Brooks said many voters aren’t sending the right people to Congress.

“But unfortunately, the people across America, particularly in the major cities, the people that they’re sending to Washington, D.C., they are wholly and completely financially irresponsible,” he said, calling them “debt junkies.”

Brooks also entertained the idea of an Article 5 Convention, which would allow states to bypass Congress in order to amend the Constitution to include a balanced budget provision.

“If you know people who are in different states around the country, try to get them to talk to their legislators to get that resolution passed so that the states can bypass Congress,” he said.

Brooks and U.S. Rep. Gary Palmer (R-Hoover) were the only two members of Alabama’s congressional delegation who voted against Congress’s recent budget deal, which would add an estimated $320 billion to the deficit over the next decade. Brooks has called it the worst piece of legislation he has voted on since being elected to Congress, with no close second.